Special Groups

The Special Groups were Shi'ite paramilitary organizations operating within Iraq that were supported by Iran during the Iraq War and the following Iraqi Civil War. The Special Groups had 7,000+ troops, and they included Mahdi Army and Iraqi insurgent forces. They were allies of Iran and the Syrian Arab Republic, and they were enemies of the MNFI, US Army, Iraqi Army, al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), Ansar al-Sunnah, Sunni insurgents, and the Free Syrian Army.

History
Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army of Shi'ite Iraqis fought against the United States and the Sunni insurgents of the Iraq War in order to push the occupiers out of their country and to protect the Shi'ite majority from persecution by Sunni terrorists (such as al-Qaeda). However, in 2007 the Mahdi Army agreed to a ceasefire with the Iraqi Army.

Afterwards, the Islamic Republic of Iran decided to fund "Special Groups" of Shi'ites in Iraq to fight against the United States, with Shi'ite clerics preaching that the United States was an enemy of Islam. Every month, Iran spent $750,000-$3,000,000 on training the Special Groups, and after the ceasefire between the Mahdi Army and Iraq, a distinction was made between the two groups. Three major groups in the Special Groups were Kata'ib Hezbollah, the Promised Day Brigades, and Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, with the Promised Day Brigades being the most independent and having over 5,000 troops - Kata'ib Hezbollah has 1,000 troops, while Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq has less than 1,000 troops. The Special Groups fought against not only the government of Iraq, but also the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) during the Iraqi Civil War.i